GOOD FOR OPENERS: SIUE, Illini grapplers fare well early at NCAA Nationals

SIUE, Illini grapplers begin nationals

Staff, wire report

Published
8:18 pm CDT, Thursday, March 16, 2017

SIUE's Jake Residori eyes Oklahoma's Matt Reed during Thursday action at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Residori posted a 6-5 victory.

SIUE's Jake Residori eyes Oklahoma's Matt Reed during Thursday action at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Residori posted a 6-5 victory.

Photo: SIUE Athletics

Photo: SIUE Athletics

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

SIUE's Jake Residori eyes Oklahoma's Matt Reed during Thursday action at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Residori posted a 6-5 victory.

SIUE's Jake Residori eyes Oklahoma's Matt Reed during Thursday action at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Residori posted a 6-5 victory.

Photo: SIUE Athletics

GOOD FOR OPENERS: SIUE, Illini grapplers fare well early at NCAA Nationals

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

ST. LOUIS – Early-round action went well for SIUE and University of Illinois grapplers Thursday at the NCAA National Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

SIUE wrestling advanced two wrestlers to day two of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center.

Meanwhile, five Fighting Fighting Illini wrestlers advanced to the second round.

“We have more wins than losses,” said SIUE coach Jeremy Spates. “We have the most number of points since becoming Division I. We have a wrestler in the quarterfinals so we’re excited, but we don’t want to stop with this. We want to continue on and have an All-American.”

Freddie Rodriguez moved on to the 125-pound quarterfinals with a pair of victories on the opening day of the Championships. He defeated Appalachian State’s Vito Pasone with a 19-4 technical fall. Rodriguez then bested Buffalo’s Kyle Akins 7-5.

“I don’t think my game plan ever changes,” said Rodriguez. “You just wrestle hard for seven minutes continuously. If I do that, I put myself in a position to win any match.”

He will wrestle sixth-seeded Ethan Lizak, of Minnesota, in the quarterfinals Friday morning.

Jake Residori, competing in his first Championship, knocked off the Big 12 Conference finalists in his first two matches. He defeated Oklahoma’s Matt Reed 6-5 in the preliminary round and followed that up with an upset over No. 7 seed Kyle Crutchmer of Oklahoma State 6-5. It was Oklahoma State’s only loss of the first round. Residori later was knocked out of the championship bracket by Illinois’ Zac Brunson 6-2.

“It’s tough when you have a pigtail and have an Oklahoma wrestler in that match but he did a great job in that match,” said Spates. “He’s wrestling really well. Three matches in a day is a lot when you are wrestling the top kids, but he’s going to come back strong tomorrow.”

Jake Tindle, appearing in his second NCAA Championship at the Scottrade Center, dropped his first-round 197-pound match to No. 10-ranked Kevin Beazley, a pin in 2 minutes, 47 seconds. He also was defeated by Princeton’s Brett Hamer in a 1:08 fall.

Top-seed Martinez, at 165 pounds, and No. 10 seed Zac Brunson (174) each picked up major decision victories in their opening-round matches. Martinez improved to 28-0 on the season with a 14-4 major decision over Northern Illinois’ Shaun’Qae McMurtry, while Brunson posted a 12-0 shutout against Purdue’s Jacob Morrissey.

Both victories marked the second of the season against their respective opponents this season. Martinez earned a technical fall against McMurtry 22-7 in Champaign, while Brunson defeated Morrissey 13-1 on Feb. 12 for his 100th career victory.

Langenderfer got revenge against Van Brill after dropping two matches to the Rutgers grappler earlier this season with a 10-4 victory in the opening round. The Illini redshirt junior never trailed in the match, taking a 2-0 lead late in the first period with a takedown. After Van Brill tied the match 2-2 with a pair of escapes, Langenderfer opened the third period with a reversal to regain the lead. The Mokena, Illinois native then delivered the big blow, a takedown and four back points to seal the victory.

The Illini’s Parker won his NCAA Championships debut, defeating Gardner Webb’s Hunter Gamble by a 6-2 count, to advance in the 184-pound bracket.

At 133 pounds, Richards was awarded a medical forfeit from Alex Madrigal of Old Dominion, to advance to the second round. His 108th career win moves Richards into a tie for 13th place on Illinois’ all-time wins list, tying former Illini B.J. Futrell.

Illinois’ Travis Piotrowski at 125 pounds and Eric Barone, at 149, dropped their opening round matches and will look to advance in the consolation bracket in Thursday second session.